"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Anyone else have high blood pressure?

I'm prehypertensive (~132/65), and have been put on an ACE Inhibitor. I don't seem to be experiencing any of the common side-effects, so thats good. The BP is down to almost the normal range after 2 weeks, so that's good too.

Watching the sodium sucks. Had to cut the Oreos in half and still haven't figured out how to replace those needed calories. I still need to talk to the Dr. to see if I can get sodium "credits" for training rides involving sweat :) I have noticed an occasional tiny bit of cramping since cutting the sodium.

Anyone else here working through this? It's pretty strange to be so fit and have this problem, but the BP has been inching up for the last 7 years or so. Genetic, I guess, but my parents (both living) still have normal BP :rolleyes:

My nephrologist was freaking about the RHR vs. the BP, but half his patients are probably on dialysis:
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8861/cimg66491oo3.jpg

Yup.

It's getting lower, but not where it should be yet.

Yes

I blame my parents, and their parents.


Edit: btw, the sodium thing; yeah, you should watch it, but if your condition is genetic that may not do much (unless you've been consuming way, way too much to begin with). I was directed to cut back to 2,000mg/day, and did so for a full year, with no change to my BP (140/90). I've been on Lisinopril for a couple of years now (10mg/day) and it's stabilized at 120/75. For me, diet didn't make much difference at all, though of course there are plenty of reasons to maintain a healthy moderate sodium diet.

I can't believe your on meds at 132/61. I've had 140/80 before I got into cycling and it's back down to ~125/~72. Seems to me with a lower pulse typical of cardio athletes, the systolic would be allowed to go a little higher simply because of the force of a larger, strong heart. But I'll stick to my day job as a trained code monkey and leave the interwebs diagnosis to some other elf.

I can't believe your on meds at 132/61. I've had 140/80 before I got into cycling and it's back down to ~125/~72.

Docs are getting a lot more aggressive with hypertension these days. It's a lot easier and cheaper to treat when it's low than when it's way high, or if you have a stoke, etc. Also I'm sure the pharma industry has something to do with it. Not such a bad thing in this case.

I can't believe your on meds at 132/61. I've had 140/80 before I got into cycling and it's back down to ~125/~72.

He is probably on meds because of the high pulse pressure (top - bottom). I think this is usually in the 40 range and his is in the 70 range which is almost double that of a normal pulse pressure which is argued as unhealthy.

>>anyone else have high blood pressure?<<

When I read DocRay's posts. Does that count?

That photo was pre-meds. I'm about 123/65 right now.

10mg of Lisinopril like 'nother

When I reviewed my sodium, I was around 2500-2700 mg/day anyway. I eat mostly fresh foods, so that's not too bad. Also, that's at 2500-2700 calories/day, so my sodium efficiency is high :)

A couple times/week, I jump to 3200 calories or more to catch-up as needed, so I'm sure my sodium spikes then too. Sometimes I get these hunger panics and just eat a ton of food. Weight has been 178 for nearly a year now.

Nope, last trip to the Hemo(yes Hemo :D ) doc sent off alarms. Auto BP got 88/44 and a RHR of 40.

Been hypertensive as long as I can remember, even as far back as middle school. Can't take ACE inhibitors because of the wicked cough they give me. I'm on Benicar now, and was on Avapro for several years. Without meds, I run 150-160/80-90. Now, 130/70-ish. Quitting smoking helped.

Nope, last trip to the Hemo(yes Hemo :D ) doc sent off alarms. Auto BP got 88/44 and a RHR of 40.

:roflmao: at least I'm with you on one of those numbers


Been hypertensive as long as I can remember, even as far back as middle school. Can't take ACE inhibitors because of the wicked cough they give me. I'm on Benicar now, and was on Avapro for several years. Without meds, I run 150-160/80-90. Now, 130/70-ish. Quitting smoking helped.

Yeah, I was really worried about the cough possibilities. I have exercise-induced asthma, and was just about sure I'd have a problem. Luckily, I'm fine. The climate here completely dried out the day I started Lisinopril, and I though I was having trouble -- then realized it was just the weather and bad timing :)

I'm sure stopping smoking helped you out a lot.

Sadly, I'm on the high side as well, but still unmedicated. I did get the cholesterol in check by going about 75% vegan. But cycling seems to be of no help with the high blood pressure.

:roflmao: at least I'm with you on one of those numbers


The only problem is that my family Doc says regulary, every year, "So what age do you want to schedule that pacemaker for?" I laugh, he doesn't. He's pretty serious. I've always had a low HR, even the few years after high school when I was sedentary. Endurance training hasn't helped that issue. A year or so ago, I was feeling palpatations, so I hooked myself up to a monitor at work and just watched TV. When I felt the palpitations, I looked over and my rate was 33.

Standing up quickly sucks too. But I think I'd rather have low than high BP.

A pacemaker doesn't sound too fun, but it's better than dying earlier :)

Mine's really low. Every time I get up I get lightheaded. 'course, that only really happened after I started cycling.

Low resting HR runs in my family. My dad is in his 80s and has a resting HR of 28.

I also have bad genes both high BP and cholesterol. I have been on lisinopril for about 5 years now with absolutely no side effects and my BP is in perfect order now. The statins are bit more trouble as I went through Lipitor, Lescol and few others before I found one that gave me no muscle side effects. Using Zocor these days.

My dad has a phantom heart beat. One of his valves doesnt make any noise so the docs are always thinking he is about to drop dead. Then he has to go through all the b.s. testing until they find out Oh you have a phantom heart beat. You are fine. He says I know, that's what I have been trying to tell you for 3 months . Can I have my minor surgery now? Don't these people keep records any more?

been on B/p meds since I was 38 and since I hit over 50 my standards seems to run prehypertensive (132/65), 136/70. my resting pulse/heart rate is around 54 don't worry about it much anymore.

I Use as little salt as possible and I know that is hard with cycling but I never salt my food and stay with a pretty bland diet of salads,fish,chicken,turkey,. At least once a month I will have pizza , hamburgers , lasanga,and maybe a mtn dew or coke once every two-3 days.

usually it takes more than one kind of med. to get it regulated or within the scope they want.

^^^^ Yeah, I managed to kill table salt cold-turkey without any trouble. The things that surprise me with salt are foods like syrup. Man, you can just forget anything processed, frozen, or in a can though. Just canned fruit and frozen fruit/veggies are ok. Soup, frz. pizza, even tomato sauce are just packed with sodium

Luckily, I make my own salsa and pizza anyway, and my wife makes the pasta sauce :)

Lifesaver: pasta, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, crushed red pepper -- with salmon and edamame. Yum. Plenty of calories for me too. I already eat lots of salad, but had to kill feta (holy sodium!)

I was just at Gatorade research institute for a stress test to join their research projects and was diagnosed with a mildly hypertensive response to excersize. BP jumped to 230/80 near HR max (179 bpm) even though BP is normally <120/70, resting HR is < 40 bpm and cholesterol is <170 with HDL >60. I have my annual physical scheduled to look into this.

I'm 47 and will probably end up on meds. :(

Before Avapro 150mg:

148/95

After:

135/80

also which you have already considered heavy continious excerise constantly will also keep your b/p on the high side or somewaht higher than normal.

For me if {ex:** if I ride say 3-4 days a week and also do weight lifting it tends to stay higher than usual.


new numbers out from the Gov/ Dept of Health say B/P should be like 120/60 .

I've been checking my BP daily since a physical I had back in June. I was around 150/80 and a bit worried. After a few months of monitoring (have the same unit as waterrockets) I've averaged around 130/70. Sometimes lower, sometimes a bit higher. My doctor has diagnosed me with whitecoat hypertension. My BP goes up when I visit the doctor. :)

My family has a history of high BP, so I know I need to watch it. I told my doctor that I didn't want to take drugs if they weren't needed. I didn't want to take a performance hit in my cycling if at all possible. Right now I just work on eating healthier. It's tough when you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight.

Lots of pretty accurate info here.

BP guidelines get lower at every turn, that's true.

Plenty of good meds too. I checked into this thread to see if WR had been prescribed a beta-blocker...not such a hot choice for an athlete. especially when resting HR is already low.

Three key things we can do to lower BP without meds:

1. Exercise: Whereas it is COMPLETELY NORMAL for BP to go up DURING exercise (a BP that DROPS with exercise is considered a positive stress test...meaning it likely represent heart disease / risk of heart attack), regular exercise leads to a drop in resting BP in general.

2. Reduce alcohol intake: For many, alcohol will raise BP...can also be beneficial for cholesterol, so may need to titrate.

3. Lose weight: figure this is less of an issue for readers of this forum than the general US population.

Mark. MD

I've been checking my BP daily since a physical I had back in June. I was around 150/80 and a bit worried. After a few months of monitoring (have the same unit as waterrockets) I've averaged around 130/70. Sometimes lower, sometimes a bit higher. My doctor has diagnosed me with whitecoat hypertension. My BP goes up when I visit the doctor. :)

My family has a history of high BP, so I know I need to watch it. I told my doctor that I didn't want to take drugs if they weren't needed. I didn't want to take a performance hit in my cycling if at all possible. Right now I just work on eating healthier. It's tough when you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight.

Yeah, you might want to run it by a nephrologist to see what a specialist thinks. One of my brother-in-laws is a gastrointerologist, and he told me that a GP is more likely to not think much of low prehypertension numbers. My nephrologist said that I wasn't overreacting, and adjusting a small amount of BP trouble now likely prevents a more aggressive treatment later. They both said it was a somewhat like driving around everywhere in 4rd gear, when it would be easier on the engine to drive around in 5th over the long haul.

Docs are getting a lot more aggressive with hypertension these days. It's a lot easier and cheaper to treat when it's low than when it's way high, or if you have a stoke, etc. Also I'm sure the pharma industry has something to do with it. Not such a bad thing in this case.

That's interesting. I am pre-hypertensive; my doc (& I) monitor my BP, which ranges from 120-75 to ~140-90. I have never seen it higher than the latter number, and my doc still just has me on exercise / diet. Given my past few weeks, I definitely need to check it.

also don't knw what the med. choice your Dr. gave you but calcium channel blockers work very well and hydrochlorthyazide, {diuretic** type pill/ seem many of the older meds work better than the newer ones

Low resting HR runs in my family. My dad is in his 80s and has a resting HR of 28.

Mine too. But I've been hypertensive for 7 years. Resting HR and pressure are not the same thing. When I was first diagnosed my pressure was 150/110 and my resting bp was 43.

A combination of 2 small amounts of drugs has been most successful for me. I take 5mg of Lisinopril and 12.5mg of hydrochlorothiazide daily. You might ask your doctor about this technique (it's not widely known).

Some people inherit cars, houses and boats. I got hypertension.

That's interesting. I am pre-hypertensive; my doc (& I) monitor my BP, which ranges from 120-75 to ~140-90. I have never seen it higher than the latter number, and my doc still just has me on exercise / diet. Given my past few weeks, I definitely need to check it.

What I said was just a general rule. Not every doctor/practice uses the same cutoff points for prescribing meds, and of course it greatly depends on the individual in question. Mine waited to prescribe until mine hit 140/90 (it had been 135/85-90 for a while prior to that). In the old days they'd wait until it was even higher...my father did not get meds until his was 160/100, even though it had been noted as being above 120/80 for some time.

A combination of 2 small amounts of drugs has been most successful for me. I take 5mg of Lisinopril and 12.5mg of hydrochlorothiazide daily. You might ask your doctor about this technique (it's not widely known).

It is pretty well known technique to combine drugs, especially for moderate to severe hypertension. HCTZ is a diuretic. My doc knows I am a cyclist and did not think that a diuretic would be a good idea in combination with the regular fluid loss I already attain through exercise, so he just went with 10mg Lisinopril which is sufficient for me (so far).

How has Lisinopril affected performance? I'm not too worried yet, but as I get older (30 now), I know I'll probably have to get on some form of BP drug.

I've only been taking it for two weeks, but I see no change in performance at all. I have a tiny bit of improvement, but it seems on track with my normal incremental improvement rate.

Definitely keep us posted on longer term usage.

re: performance, hard to say. I never had a good baseline pre-medication (i.e. power or HR numbers). Lisinopril works in part by lowering heart rate, and that could affect one's potential, especially at the top end.

I'm on Avalide 150/12.5 mg and it works well for me. When I started cycling 7 years ago I was 280lbs with a bp of 160/90. Now I'm 125/70 and down to 220 lbs.

I ride every day unless heavy rain interfers. I dropped Gatorade a few months ago and have been using Amino Vital as it seems to be a better product for me.

Why are you seeing a nephrologist? People with kidney problems (or diabetes) need to be even more concerned about elevated blood pressure.

Lisinopril works in part by lowering heart rate, and that could affect one's potential, especially at the top end.

From what I've read, Lisinopril has little or no effect on HR or cardiac performance. I haven't had cause to hit MHR in the last two weeks, but I've pushed within 7 beats of it, and it felt about right.

Where did you hear it lowers HR? (Not challenging you -- just want to learn more :beer:)


Why are you seeing a nephrologist? People with kidney problems (or diabetes) need to be even more concerned about elevated blood pressure.

Nephrologists are BP experts, since many BP problems are kidney related. Given I'm 36, non-smoker, way above average fitness, no alcohol, eat pretty well, exercise really hard all the time, kidneys were a good place to start looking for a problem. There just aren't many other place to look...

From what I've read, Lisinopril has little or no effect on HR or cardiac performance. I haven't had cause to hit MHR in the last two weeks, but I've pushed within 7 beats of it, and it felt about right.

Where did you hear it lowers HR? (Not challenging you -- just want to learn more :beer:)


This was my main concern with BP meds. I don't want to lose whatever topend I have if I have to go on them. :)

When I reviewed my sodium, I was around 2500-2700 mg/day anyway. I eat mostly fresh foods, so that's not too bad. Also, that's at 2500-2700 calories/day, so my sodium efficiency is high :)

A couple times/week, I jump to 3200 calories or more to catch-up as needed, so I'm sure my sodium spikes then too. Sometimes I get these hunger panics and just eat a ton of food. Weight has been 178 for nearly a year now.

2500-2700 mg? Man... I am WAY above that. But, I come close to the same 1:1 calorie/mg of sodium intake though. Difference being I avg ~4500 cal/day of intake. Only 4 days in the month of October were 3200 or less.

I haven't had BP measured in a long time, but will get my annual physical in a month and this year will include blood workups. Ya'll are scaring me.

2500-2700 mg? Man... I am WAY above that. But, I come close to the same 1:1 calorie/mg of sodium intake though. Difference being I avg ~4500 cal/day of intake. Only 4 days in the month of October were 3200 or less.

I haven't had BP measured in a long time, but will get my annual physical in a month and this year will include blood workups. Ya'll are scaring me.

If I ate over 3000 calories daily I'd weigh 200+ lbs within 60 days.

'Ya'll''? You're in Japan Nomadsan.

This was my main concern with BP meds. I don't want to lose whatever topend I have if I have to go on them. :)

Beta blockers are what lower your HR.

I've been on Altace for a couple months now. My BP was in the pre-hypertensive range but my doc ordered a stress test after seeing me. I have an irregular hearbeat and mentioned that my dad was on a med to relax his heart because his one ventricle didn't fill before pumping and was forced to double pump (she wanted to verify my ticker was OK as my max HR is 206 but we weren't sure if it was truly 206 or something closer to 175 with a bunch of double pumps).

Anyway, during the stress test they took me up to a HR of 192 before shutting me down because my BP went up to 290/something. My doc put me on an ACE inhibitor to treat my exercise induced hypertension because she knew I'd go off the beta blocker because of the HR issue and said Alpha Channel blockers had too many side effects. So far all I've noticed is an occasional weird taste/smell that lingers for a minute or two a couple times a day.

I've always been someone who's always been amped up and the meds haven't changed that but I feel so much better when racing. When I used to be at threshold or sprinting I'd feel a full body pulse and my heart would be pounding like I was a coke addict having a hard core panic attack. Now when I'm going all out I just get winded and fatigued. In retrospect, I was probably close to having a coronary or a stroke every time I raced pre-meds...

2500-2700 mg? Man... I am WAY above that. But, I come close to the same 1:1 calorie/mg of sodium intake though. Difference being I avg ~4500 cal/day of intake. Only 4 days in the month of October were 3200 or less.

I haven't had BP measured in a long time, but will get my annual physical in a month and this year will include blood workups. Ya'll are scaring me.

Yeah, you have to remember that I ride 75 miles/week -- your volume is higher. When I was 21 and racing, with 300-400 miles/week I was surely over 4000 cal/day. Given the fact that I out-ate everyone before I started riding, I would think I hit 6k sometimes when I was riding -- and I was 6'4" @ 165lbs... and couldn't gain an ounce to save my life. I miss those days...

I'll report back in December when I have a chance to ping the Dr. about getting "exercise credits" for sodium intake :)

I also have bad genes both high BP and cholesterol. I have been on lisinopril for about 5 years now with absolutely no side effects and my BP is in perfect order now. The statins are bit more trouble as I went through Lipitor, Lescol and few others before I found one that gave me no muscle side effects. Using Zocor these days.

have moderately high cholesterol (238) but very good HDL & BP...have a family history of heart disease and would consider low dose statin but am concerned about side effects. anyone else have experience with these?

have moderately high cholesterol (238) but very good HDL & BP...have a family history of heart disease and would consider low dose statin but am concerned about side effects. anyone else have experience with these?

Just like all those TV commercials say--side effects are rare. The benefits outweigh the risks. Although your total cholesterol isn't extremely high, conventional wisdom says the cumulative effects over time will still cause you trouble down the road.

I take Lipitor. I have no problems with it.

Over 70% of what people call genetics is simply inheriting the same eating habits their family had. High BP, diabetes, cholesterol, and many cancers can all be controlled, and reversed through diet.

and I was 6'4" @ 165lbs... and couldn't gain an ounce to save my life. I miss those days...

I'm holding on to that size (6'3" @ 160lbs) as long as I can. :) Everyone said 30 would be the end of those skinny days, but I'm more fit now than in college when I was racing.

Lots of good info here.

Over 70% of what people call genetics is simply inheriting the same eating habits their family had. High BP, diabetes, cholesterol, and many cancers can all be controlled, and reversed through diet.

Using drugs should always be your last resort. But there are some of us who have done all of the diet and exercise changes and seen no benefit to cholesterol or BP reduction. Many people look at the drugs as an easy way out, I have gone off meds twice hoping that changes in my lifestyle such as dropping 30 lbs would improve my stats. Both my BP and Cholesterol went back up. For those situations the drugs may be a life saver.

I'm holding on to that size (6'3" @ 160lbs) as long as I can. :) Everyone said 30 would be the end of those skinny days, but I'm more fit now than in college when I was racing.

Lots of good info here.

Yeah, I balooned to 220 when I gave up racing, but held onto the eating. I've dropped 42 lbs, and at 36 years old, I'm MUCH MUCH faster than I was at 21 or 22. No way I'll ever get back down to that 165 kind of weight though -- no desire at this point.

That's great that you've held onto it. I had such a massive burnout from racing that I swung completely the other direction :mad:

My doc knows I am a cyclist and did not think that a diuretic would be a good idea in combination with the regular fluid loss I already attain through exercise

I take a relatively small dose and it hasn't had an impact onme at all. I usually take it with a small glass or orange juice to help out with the potassium issue.

Lisinoptil does lower your max HR, but only in pretty high dosages. I test my HR and LT regularly and found no differences, at my dosage level.

And I wouldn't really care if it did lower my max. Trading a few BP of max for a normal lifespan sounds like a great deal to me.